Gareth Southgate was delighted to put smiles on the faces of fans across the nation as England won their opening match at a European Championship for the first time.

Three years on from the heartbreaking World Cup semi-final loss to Croatia, the Three Lions exacted some sort of revenge by giving Zlatko Dalic’s men a bloody nose at the start of Euro 2020.

Raheem Sterling’s first tournament goal – and England’s first at Wembley in front of fans since November 2019 – was enough to secure a 1-0 win in sweltering conditions.

“Then there was one mistake. We have talked for seven days about not getting caught out of position. They exploited the space and scored.

“In attack we didn’t show much quality, but we were playing against England, who are a terrific team.

“We were their equal most of the time. This is encouraging to me and it will be better in the forthcoming matches.”